But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
Parallel Translations
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But whenever someone turns to the Lord, the veil is taken away.
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Neverthelesse when they tourne to the Lorde the vayle shalbe taken awaye.
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Neuertheles when their heart shall be turned to the Lord, the vaile shalbe taken away.
Cross-references (12)
Passages linked to 2 Corinthians 3:16 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Exodus 34:34 But when Moses went in before Yahweh to speak with him, he took the veil off, until he came out; and he came out, and spoke to the children of Israel that which he was commanded.
- Isaiah 25:7 He will destroy in this mountain the surface of the covering that covers all peoples, and the veil that is spread over all nations.
- Isaiah 29:18 In that day, the deaf will hear the words of the book, and the eyes of the blind will see out of obscurity and out of darkness.
- John 6:45-46 It is written in the prophets, ‘They will all be taught by God.’ Therefore everyone who hears from the Father and has learned, comes to me. Not that anyone has seen the Father, except he who is from God. He has seen the Father.
- Jeremiah 31:34 They will no longer each teach his neighbor, and every man teach his brother, saying, ‘Know Yahweh;’ for they will all know me, from their least to their greatest,” says Yahweh: “for I will forgive their iniquity, and I will remember their sin no more.”
- Romans 11:23 They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again.
- Romans 11:25-27 For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.”
- Lamentations 3:40 Let us search and try our ways, and turn again to Yahweh.
- Deuteronomy 4:30 When you are in oppression, and all these things have come on you, in the latter days you shall return to Yahweh your God and listen to his voice.
- Deuteronomy 30:10 if you will obey Yahweh your God’s voice, to keep his commandments and his statutes which are written in this book of the law; if you turn to Yahweh your God with all your heart and with all your soul.
- Isaiah 54:13 All your children will be taught by Yahweh; and your children’s peace will be great.
- Hosea 3:4-5 For the children of Israel shall live many days without king, and without prince, and without sacrifice, and without sacred stone, and without ephod or idols. Afterward the children of Israel shall return, and seek Yahweh their God, and David their king, and shall come with trembling to Yahweh and to his blessings in the last days.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (15 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 16. But when he shall have turned to the…
16. But when he shall have turned to the Lord. This passage has hitherto been badly rendered, for both Greek and Latin writers have thought that the word Israel was to be understood, whereas Paul is speaking of Moses. He had said, that a veil is upon the hearts of the Jews, when Moses is read. He immediately adds, As soon as he will have turned to the Lord, the veil will be taken away. Who does not see, that this is said of Moses, that is, of the law? For as Christ is the end of it, (Romans 10:4,) to which it ought to be referred, it was turned away in another direction, when the Jews shut out Christ from it. Hence, as in the law they wander into by-paths, so the law, too, becomes to them involved like a labyrinth, until it is brought to refer to its end, that is, Christ. If, accordingly, the Jews seek Christ in the law, the truth of God will be distinctly seen by them, but so long as they think to be wise without Christ, they will wander in darkness, and will never arrive at a right understanding of the law. Now what is said of the law applies to all Scripture — that where it is not taken as referring to Christ as its one aim, it is mistakingly twisted and perverted.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain 16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord,…
16 Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
Ver. 16. When it shall turn] Of the Jews’ conversion, and what hinders it. {See Trapp on "Rom 11:7"} {See Trapp on "Rom 11:8"} {See Trapp on "Rom 11:25"}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain When it shall turn, may be understood of the…
When it shall turn, may be understood of the whole, or of the generality (at least) of the Jews; when they shall be converted to the faith of Christ, or when any particular person shall be converted to Christ, then
the veil shall be taken away; not the veil with which God covered and veiled the mysteries of the gospel, (that was already taken away upon Christ’s coming in the flesh), but the veil of blindness, which they had drawn over their own souls. Though the light of the gospel shineth clearly, and Christ be unveiled, yet until men, by a true faith, receive Christ, and turn from sinful courses to the obedience of the gospel, they see little or nothing of Christ. The taking away of this veil, and the turning to the Lord, are things done in souls at the same time; therefore nothing is to be concluded here, from the apostle’s naming the removal of the impediment, after the effect of which that is a cause.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord,.... The…
Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord,.... The heart, upon which the veil now is; or the body of the Jewish nation, as in the latter day; when they "shall turn", or "be turned", by the Spirit, power, and grace of God, to the Lord Jesus Christ, and look upon him whom they have pierced, and mourn, and embrace him as the true Messiah and only Saviour:
the veil shall be taken away; the veil of blindness and ignorance, respecting themselves, case, state, and condition, and the way of salvation by Christ; the veil of unbelief, with regard to his person, offices, and grace, and of error in points of the greatest moment and importance; then all the darkness and obscurity that is upon the books of Moses and the prophets, and which is now upon their hearts in reading them, will be gone. The prophecies of the Old Testament will be seen in their proper light, and to be evidently fulfilled in Christ; the true nature, use, and end of the law, will be discovered; and both they and that will be freed from all darkness that now attends them. The Jews themselves acknowledge, that though the law is light, yet there is an obscurity in it, by reason of the several ways of interpreting it; and therefore,
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"he that studies in it, has need to remove, , "veil after veil", which is upon the face of it, in order to come at the light of it (g):''
and intimate, that the veil on Moses's face was an emblem of this obscurity, which agrees with what the apostle hints in this context; and also own, that there is now upon them a veil of ignorance; and, say they (h), God has promised to remove, , perhaps it should be "the veil of folly off of our understanding", referring, as is thought, to Isa 25:7.
(g) R. Abraham Seba in Tzeror Hammor, fol. 90. 2. (h) Chobat Halebabot, par. 1. c. 3. apud L. Capell. in loc.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
John Wesley 1765 · Public Domain When it - Their heart. Shall turn to the…
When it - Their heart. Shall turn to the Lord - To Christ, by living faith. The veil is taken away - That very moment; and they see, with the utmost clearness, how all the types and prophecies of the law are fully accomplished in him.
John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 16. When it shall turn to the Lord]…
Verse 16. When it shall turn to the Lord] When the Israelitish nation shall turn to the LORD Jesus, the veil shall be taken away; the true light shall shine; and they shall see all things clearly.
There is an evident allusion here to the case of Moses, mentioned Ex 34:34. When he came from the Lord, and spoke to the Israelites, he put the veil over his face; but when he returned to speak with the Lord, then he took off the veil. So, when the Israelitish nation shall return to speak with and pray to the Lord Jesus, the veil of darkness and ignorance shall be taken away from their hearts; but never before that time. The words seem to imply:
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1. That there will be a conversion of the Jews to Christianity; and,
2. That this conversion will be en masse; that a time will come when the whole nation of the Jews, in every place, shall turn to Christ; and then the Gentiles and Jews make one fold, under one Shepherd and Bishop of all souls.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Albert Barnes 1834 · Public Domain Nevertheless - This is not always to continue. The…
Nevertheless - This is not always to continue. The time is coming when they shall understand their own Scriptures, and see their true beauty.
When it shall turn to the Lord - When the Jewish people shall be converted. The word “it” here refers undoubtedly to “Israel” in 2Co 3:13; and the sense is, that their blindness is not always to remain; there is to be a period when they shall turn to God, and shall understand his promises, and become acquainted with the true nature of their own religion. This subject the apostle has discussed at much greater length in the eleventh chapter of the Epistle to the Romans; see the notes on that chapter.
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The vail shall be taken away - They shall then understand the true meaning of the prophecies, and the true nature of their own institutions. They shall see that they refer to the Lord Jesus, the incarnate Son of God, and the true Messiah. The genuine sense of their sacred oracles shall break upon their view with full and irresistible light. There may be an allusion in the language here to the declaration in Isa 25:7, “And he will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the vail that is spread over all nations.” This verse teaches:
(1) That the time will come when the Jews shall be converted to Christianity; expressed here by their turning unto the Lord, that is, the Lord Jesus; see the note, Act 1:24.
(2) It seems to be implied that their conversion will be a conversion of “the people” at large; a conversion that shall be nearly simultaneous; a conversion “en masse.” Such a conversion we have reason to anticipate of the Jewish nation.
(3) The effect of this will be to make them acquainted with the true sense of their own Scriptures, and the light and beauty of the sayings of their own prophets, Now they are in deep darkness on the sub ject; then they will see how entirely they meet and harmonize in the Lord Jesus.
(4) The true and only way of having a correct and full meaning of the Bible is by turning unto God. Love to Him, and a disposition to do His will, is the best means of interpreting the Bible.
Albert Barnes' Notes on the Bible (1834–1885) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Robert Jamieson, A. R. Fausset & David Brown 1871 · Public Domain Moses took off the veil on entering into the…
Moses took off the veil on entering into the presence of the Lord. So as to the Israelites whom Moses represents, "whensoever their heart (it) turns (not as English Version, 'shall turn') to the Lord, the veil is (by the very fact; not as English Version, 'shall be') taken away." Exo 34:34 is the allusion; not Exo 34:30-31, as ALFORD thinks. Whenever the Israelites turn to the Lord, who is the Spirit of the law, the veil is taken off their hearts in the presence of the Lord: as the literal veil was taken off by Moses in going before God: no longer resting on the dead letter, the veil, they by the Spirit commune with God and with the inner spirit of the Mosaic covenant (which answers to the glory of Moses' face unveiled in God's presence).
Jamieson, Fausset & Brown — Commentary Critical and Explanatory on the Whole Bible (1871) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 16. Nevertheless—St. Paul relieves the dark view with a…
16. Nevertheless—St. Paul relieves the dark view with a ray of light. As the vail was once upon Moses, so it is now on the Jewish heart; but as when Moses went in to the Lord the vail “was taken off,” (Exo_34:34,) so when the Jewish heart shall turn to the Lord, the vail shall be taken away.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 16. when it shall turn to the Lord] The…
16. when it shall turn to the Lord] The A. V. makes (1) Israel’s heart the nominative to the verb in this sentence. Wiclif and the other Protestant translators (2) make Israel itself the nominative, while (3) the Rhemish version makes Moses the nominative, referring to the fact that in the narrative in Exodus 34 he is said in almost the same words as here, to remove the veil when he turns to God. Origen (4) would supply any one. Each rendering is defended by commentators of note, but the first seems preferable. Cf. Rom_11:23; Rom_11:26; Rom_11:32.
the vail shall be taken away] The tense in the original is present, not future, and may be interpreted, (1) with Bp. Wordsworth, ‘is in process of removal,’ or perhaps better, (2) with Dean Alford, is there and then removed, i.e. at the moment when the heart turns to the Lord, just as Moses took off the veil when he turned to speak to God. See also Isa_25:7. It is to be observed that these words are a quotation of the LXX. of Exo_34:34, substituting, however, the present for the past tense.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (16) Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord.—Better,…
(16) Nevertheless when it shall turn to the Lord.—Better, But when it shall turn. The allegorising process is still carried on. Moses removed the veil when he went into the tabernacle to commune with the Lord (Exo_34:35); so, in the interpretation of the parable, the veil shall be taken away when the heart of Israel shall turn, in the might of a real conversion, to the Lord of Israel. The very word for “turn” is taken from the same context: “Moses called them, and Aaron and all the rulers of the congregation turned to him” (Exo_34:31).
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain When it shall turn to the Lord. The nominative…
When it shall turn to the Lord. The nominative of the verb is not expressed. Obviously the most natural word to supply is the one last alluded to, namely, "the heart of Israel." The verb may have been suggested by Exo_34:31. Shall be taken away; literally, is in course of removal. The tenses imply that "the moment the heart of Israel shall have turned to the Lord, the removal of the veil begins." Then "they shall look on him whom they pierced"; (Zec_12:10) "He will destroy in this mountain the face of the covering cast over all people, and the veil that is spread over all nations". (Isa_25:7)
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
B. W. Johnson 1891 · Public Domain 16. When it shall turn to the Lord. The…
16. When it shall turn to the Lord. The heart. Then the veil of blindness will fall away so that they will see clearly.
B. W. Johnson's The People's New Testament with Notes (1889–1891) — public domain. Electronic text from the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (CCEL) ThML edition.
J. W. McGarvey 1914 · Public Domain But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the…
But whensoever it shall turn to the Lord, the veil is taken away . [The word "end" in 2Co_3:13 is the bone of contention in this passage. It has two meanings: (1) The termination or stopping-point. (2) The purpose, design or ultimate result. Macknight, Alford and others give it the first meaning, and construe Paul as saying that Moses covered his face that the children of Israel might not see the termination of the glory, as it faded from his face. But this construction limits the typical concealment to the mere fact that the Mosaic dispensation was to pass away, and is not large enough for Paul's thought, as is shown by the context. Cameron, Barnes, etc., give it the second meaning, which we have embodied in the following paraphrase: "In dealing with the glory of our ministration we do not veil our meaning in types and shadows, as Moses showed that he did with his ministration, when he typically concealed the glory of his face by putting a veil upon it. He concealed the meaning of his ministration that the children of Israel should not look stedfastly on Christ, the end or fulfillment of that dispensation or law which was typically passing away in the fading glory of Moses' face (now, Christ is thus the end of Moses' law-- Rom_10:4 ); but the true hindrance was not the typical veil worn by Moses, but the real veil on the minds of the people, who were dull of understanding and sinfully hardened, so that from the very beginning they understood not his dispensation, nor do they yet, for even now when the law is read the great truth is not revealed to them that it is all done away, having ended in Christ. But unto this day, whensoever Moses is read, a veil is upon their heart, and they do not see that Moses preaches Christ. But whensoever the Jewish nation shall turn to the Lord, then the veil is taken away, and they see that the end or purpose of the law is to lead to Christ."-- Gal_3:24 ]
J. W. McGarvey (with Philip Y. Pendleton), Commentaries on the New Testament (The Fourfold Gospel, 1914; Acts; and the epistles) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Tyndale Open Study Notes 2022 · CC BY-SA 4.0 3:16-18 The believer who turns to the Lord has…
3:16-18 The believer who turns to the Lord has freedom in the Spirit. We receive something Moses never knew as we become more and more like Christ (4:4; John 1:1-14; Col 1:15; Heb 1:1-4) and reflect the glory of the Lord. Divine glory in this present life leads to our being like Christ in the next life (Rom 8:29; Gal 4:19; Phil 3:21; 1 Jn 3:2).
Tyndale Open Study Notes — © Tyndale Open Resources, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. Text via the HelloAO Bible API.